A New Day
by LillyOfTheValley
Summary: ONE SHOT. Hermione's anniversary isn't going quite as she planned, she turns to someone for help.


Author's Note: I know I've been missing in action for a while but with school I don't get as much time to write as I would like. I only really come up with something now when I'm really frustrated, and boy was I frustrated when I started this up. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters.

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This wasn't what her life was supposed to be like. She wasn't supposed to loose one best friend in the war and find out third hand that the other had feelings for her. She wasn't supposed to be slaving away in a job she hated at twenty-five, and she sure as hell wasn't supposed to be sitting alone in her kitchen at midnight on her anniversary while her fiancée was out doing God knew what. Hermione Granger sat in the kitchen of her flat with a glass of wine that she'd opened by herself while the dinner she'd spent hours on sat on the table like it had been for hours. No, this wasn't what it was supposed to be like at all. Her hand tightened convulsively around the stem of the glass as the door opened and she heard Seamus's voice from the entryway.

"Sorry I'm late luv, long day at work." He rounded the corner, saw the table, took in her red cocktail dress and straightened hair, noticed the ready to kill look in her eyes and his mouth dropped open. "Our anniversary."

She stood, visibly shaking with anger. "Yes, our anniversary." She looked him up and down, zeroed in on the sloppily buttoned shirt and the smudge of fiery red stark against the white of his collar and knew. Lipstick on the collar. "How cinematic," she whispered. Without a moment's hesitation she strode over to him, threw her wine in his face and walked away.

"Hermione what on earth? I'm sorry I forgot but we can work it out."

She turned with the empty wine glass held loosely in her tired hand. "Don't try to fool me Seamus, not me… the brightest witch of her age." She bitterly spit out the nickname that she'd come to detest when 'Brightest Witch of her Age Fails to Save Best Friend Ron Weasley' had been plastered all over the papers during the war. "I'm not blind Seamus. Lipstick on the collar, missing button, mussed up hair… it all points to one thing."

He looked at her wild eyed and shook his head. "No. I know what it looks like, but…"

"Good, I'm glad you do, because it looks an awful lot like you've been sleeping around behind my back. Look me in the eye and tell me you haven't been having an affair, and I'll believe you." His eyes met her briefly then fell to the floor. Hermione felt the tears well up in her eyes and turned to walk away.

"Please Hermione, she doesn't mean anything to me. We can make it work."

"I've spent the past six months trying to figure out what's wrong in this relationship. I thought tonight could help make things better, but now I know that nothing ever will." She took her ring off and dropped it in the wine glass. "Goodbye Seamus." She let the glass fall and walked out to the sound of it shattering.

After she walked away it occurred to Hermione that it was one in the morning and she didn't have a thing with her. She knew immediately where to go. When she reapparated in front of Harry's house she searched for the spare key. When she couldn't find it she resorted to pounding on the door. It took a minute but Harry stumbled to the front door.

"Hermione?" When he saw her he awakened completely. "What's happened?"

She stared blankly at him with the tears running down her face. "You're still in your work clothes, you should change, it'd be much more comfortable." Harry couldn't help but smile. She was standing on his doorstep at one in the morning bawling and she was concerned about him.

"I crashed after work. Come inside."

He led her into the house and sat her down on the couch. "What happened Mione?"

She stared straight forward while she told him the story. "I've been worried about Seamus and I for a while now and tonight was our anniversary so I decided to make a fancy dinner to see if it could make things better. He forgot, he forgot our anniversary. He came home really late with lipstick on his collar and his shirt was buttoned wrong. I confronted him and found out he's been having an affair. I don't know how long it's been going on. I took off my ring and walked away, and I knew… I knew I had to come here." She turned to look at him as she said the last and it suddenly clicked.

"The bastard, I'm going to make sure he never has the ability to cheat on anyone ever again." Harry was up and pacing.

Hermione snapped to attention. "Harry you won't kill him. He's not worth it and I'll be fine. I think I just realized something. Let me think." He nodded but kept pacing restlessly, and Hermione watched him.

Suddenly it hit her like a fist, her heart seized and all of the air in her lungs seemed to disappear. "Oh God," she breathed. It wasn't just Seamus that had killed their relationship; she'd been just as much at fault. Maybe it had only started six months back when everything had begun to feel off; maybe it had been there all along. All Hermione knew was as that moment her heart was overflowing with love for the man pacing in front of her; the man who had held her as she'd cried after she'd failed to save Ron, the man who had saved her countless times, the man who would kill for her to make everything better. Her eyes filled with fresh tears and she stood up to meet him. "Harry, I just realized… I have to…"

She trailed off and put her hands on his arms to halt him. He looked down at her with a question in his eyes and she shook her head. Bracing herself to take the plunge, she stood on her tip toes and kissed him. Too stunned to react, Harry just stood there. She pulled away and looked up at him and he brushed a tear off her cheek.

"Hermione, I'm pretty sure you know by now how I feel about you." She nodded. "But you're hurting right now and I don't want you to do something tonight that you'll regret later."

She shook her head firmly. "No, I'm not hurting, and I won't regret anything that happens tonight because I've just realized that it's been you along Harry. You're the one. That's why things fell apart with Seamus, not because of his affair, because I'm in love with you."

Speechless, all Harry could do was lean down and kiss her sweetly. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted you to say that to me?"

"Well, I have been kind of busy," she said with a smile.

"We never did do anything conventionally did we?" They both giggled at that but Hermione's eyes quickly changed. Her fingers working the buttons on his shirt made Harry's laughter stop abruptly.

"Mione?"

"I want this Harry. I want to be with you."

He nodded and took her hand, kissing her gently. "Lets go upstairs."

Hermione woke up the next morning warm and content. She turned in Harry's arms to look at him and found him watching her with a goofy grin. The grin faded as he thought for a moment. He reached out to touch her cheek.

"Why didn't you tell me? I was sure you and Seamus had…"

"I always hesitated. I knew the first time I thought about it that I wanted my first to be someone I could see spending the rest of my life with and that should have been Seamus. But I always hesitated. I guess that should've been a big clue."

"Probably."

She nodded and smile at him. "I'm glad it was you. You fit the bill perfectly."

The goofy grin came back. "Have I told you today that I love you?"

"Not that I can recall."

"Hmm, that's easily fixed. I love you."

"I love you too. I've missed so much time with you being with the wrong man for two years, want to skive off work?"

"Hermione Granger I've been waiting for you to ask me that for nearly fifteen years," he said with a laugh. "Sure, why not? And what about tomorrow?"

"We'll just have to see. Tomorrow's a new day."


End file.
